10 Largest Animals In The World Still Exist Today

Our planet is inhabited by a very vast variety of small and big animals. Here is a brief introduction of the 10 largest animals that is presently available in the world. The description includes mammals and other varieties too.

10. The European hare

The largest living lagomorphs, the European hare could weigh up to 11 pounds and can mature to have a length of more than 2 feet. They are inhabitants of Western Europe, British Isles, Central Asia and the Middle East. The genus has been brought in to North America to occupy areas of the Great Lakes and southern Ontario. Their color varies from grey brown to yellow brown. Their ears are long and the tail is of two colors – black on the top and white at the bottom.

9. The red kangaroo

The red kangaroo is the largest living marsupial. Red kangaroos can weigh up to 200 pounds and can grow to have a length of over 5½ feet. The weight of a male red kangaroos can be more than twice the weight of a female. The sex of the animal is distinguishable by the color of its coat. In case of males it is rusty red while females have blue-grey color.

8. The eastern lowland gorilla

It is the largest living primate. Eastern lowland gorillas can weigh up to 440 pounds and grow as tall as 5½ feet. Eastern lowland gorillas are among the four subspecies of gorillas. In comparison to other gorillas, eastern lowland gorillas are shorter and have stockier build. They have large arms and hands but a short snout. Adult eastern lowland gorillas can weigh up to forty pounds of plant material everyday. You may be able to find them in lowland and montane forests of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The animal species is in danger of extinction as it faces threats from hunting, poaching and habitat destruction.

7. The capybara

It’s the biggest living rodent. Its weight may go up to 145 pounds and length to over 4¼ feet. These semi-aquatic mammals are seen in large numbers in most of South America and that includes Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia Guyana, Ecuador, French Guyana, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay and Suriname. Capybaras reside in thick forests which contain ponds, rivers, lakes and swamps.

6. The West Indian manatee

This is one of the largest animals in the world also largest living sirenian can weigh as much as 1,300 pounds and attain a length of up to 13 feet. The West Indian manatee comes in two subspecies, the Florida Manatee and the Caribbean Manatee. The West Indian manatee was once dwarfed by another sirenian genus, the Steller’s sea cow. In earlier times, the North Pacific had abundance of the Stellar’s sea cow but got hunted to extinction by 1768; just 27 years after the species was discovered by Europeans.

5. The southern elephant seal

This is the largest living carnivore. The weight of southern elephant seals can be a high as 8800 pounds and can grow to a length of more than 20 feet. Southern elephant seals dwell in the icy waters of the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic. In contrast to the elephant, hippo and rhino, most of its largeness is due to it’s fat that it has to endure as also the extreme cold of its natural habitat. Polar bears also belong to the same family and are great swimmers and are known to go as far as sixty miles from the shore.

4. Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros are also real big animals. There are 5 known species of rhinoceros. 3 are in Asia and 2 in Africa. The largest is the African white rhino that can weight up to two and half tons when fully grown. Contrary to its name, a white rhino has a dark grey color. It is supposed that the term ‘white’ is corrupted form of the original Boer description of this huge beast, which was called the “wijde,” Dutch for “wide” to describe the animal’s mouth.

3. Hippopotamus

The hippo is the 3rd largest animal in the earth. The weight of a baby hippo is a thousand pounds or half a ton, which is nearly the weight of a pickup truck. The weight of an adult and full grown hippo can be up to four tons. The term hippopotamus translates to ‘river horse.’ True to its name, this animal typically spends eighteen hours a day submerged or partially submerged. They can attain a height of up to fourteen feet and the positioning of their eyes and ears is high on the head. These features allow them to remain in deep waters and continue breathing.

2. Elephants

Elephants, especially the African bush elephants, are the second largest animals in the world and the largest animal on land. The biggest known elephant had a weight of ten ton and four meter in height at its shoulder. That is quite big but just five percent of the weight of a blue whale. African baby elephant is also big and its mother takes 23 months to deliver one from conception.

1. Great Whales

The great whale is the largest animal in the world. Most of the great whales are baleen, meaning they lack teeth but have a grill-like mechanism (the baleen) that filters their food. Perm whale is the only variety of great whale with teeth. The largest baleen whale is the blue whale that weighs 200 tons, followed by fin whale of 75 tons, and 60-ton bowhead whale and 45-ton sperm whale. The blue whale eats 4 tons of krill every day. Blue whale babies are also huge. The baby weighs three tons at birth and gains nearly two hundred pounds a day for the first year of its life. This is not just the largest animal on our planet but is also believed to be largest creature that lived on earth.

Here, we have considered only the animals that are existed in earth at present. Let us know in the comment if we have missed any of the largest animals that should have made the top 10 list.